What evidence may connect physical cash activity to a person?¶

Physical cash leaves fewer system records than electronic payment, but it can still be linked to people through surrounding evidence.

Avoid this assumption: Cash activity is either untraceable or automatically attributable to the account holder.

Relevant evidence may include ATM or deposit-machine journals, branch records, cashier notes, receipts, deposit slips, terminal identifiers and transaction references.

CCTV can show who approached a machine, entered a branch, handed over cash or collected it.

Device location, vehicle records, travel data, communications and witness accounts may place a person at the location.

Banknotes may also carry evidential value through serial numbers, forensic examination or pre-recorded funds, depending on the circumstances.

Account activity before and after the cash event can help. A rapid withdrawal followed by a meeting, purchase or deposit may form part of a wider sequence.

But proximity is not the same as participation. A person seen near an ATM may not have used it.

Likewise, the account holder may not be the person shown on CCTV.

Build the evidence in layers. Identify the financial event, the physical location, the person present, the device or vehicle connected to them and what happened afterward.

Preserve CCTV quickly and record any clock differences.

Where cash is recovered, maintain evidential handling and record denomination, quantity and packaging.

Do not overstate the source of cash merely because the amount resembles a withdrawal or deposit.

When reporting, distinguish direct observation, system records and inference.

Operational takeaway¶

Connect cash activity to a person through converging financial, CCTV, location, communication and possession evidence rather than relying on the account record alone.